Was Pau Gasol even a top 15 player in 2009 and 2010?

[Cladyclad]

Kobe made his players be themselves or better. When u played with him he didn’t want u to sacrificeyour game. Pau was in Memphis doin the same thing he did in LA but even better. Pau should not improved playing with a ball hog who don’t make players better.

 

[IllmaticDelta]

he was easily a top 5 big during that span

 

[No1]

08-10 Pau was better then amare and bosh. Pau was leading his team as the first option and main scoring threat to the offs out west consistently

Pau Gasol wasn't better than Bosh at any point besides around Bosh's first two seasons. Stop it fam. And he most definitely was not better than Amare.

Pau was probably better than injured Duncan in 09 and 10 though. But during that span a lot of guys were better than Pau:

Kobe, Bron, Pierce, Garnett, Wade, Dirk, Amare, Nash, Bosh, Dwight, Joe Johnson, Durant, Melo, Chris Paul, D. Will, Rose, Brandon Roy. And then Duncan and Aldridge were arguable.

 

[ISO]

Pau Gasol wasn't better than Bosh at any point besides around Bosh's first two seasons. Stop it fam. And he most definitely was not better than Amare.

Pau was probably better than injured Duncan in 09 and 10 though. But during that span a lot of guys were better than Pau:

Kobe, Bron, Pierce, Garnett, Wade, Dirk, Amare, Nash, Bosh, Dwight, Joe Johnson, Durant, Melo, Chris Paul, D. Will, Rose, Brandon Roy. And then Duncan and Aldridge were arguable.

Pau was better than Bosh and Amar'e at several aspects of basketball you nikkas only care about scoring

 

[BigTyme Records]

Pau Outperformed Kobe in the 2010 finals . Should have been the MVP

 

[Cladyclad]

Pau was better than Bosh and Amar'e at several aspects of basketball you nikkas only care about scoring

Why couldn’t he win one playoff game if he top 15 tho? It wasn’t like he played with bums or ran into unbeatable teams. That alone disqualified him to me

 

[ISO]

I've seen people use the Gasol trade to discredit Kobe's 08 but before joining the Lakers Gasol was averaging 19/9 on 51% shooting for a 13-32 Grizzlies squad (didn't play ever game, however), then suddenly averages 19/8 on 59% for a team that goes on a 22-5 run and reaches the finals. And even before that he wasn't known as a big time player even with the 45+ wins the Grizzlies sometimes reached before losing their glue guy (Battier), sure you could attribute some of that Lakers production to Phil and the triangle, but there's another more significant reason why

But anyway, Gasol was a great player, in his prime he was 3rd team caliber with a weak 2nd team argument in some years (11 comes to mind) but anything more than that is overrating the hell out of him. His defense was also pretty inconsistent, very good shot blocker with great length but that's all for naught when you're not as quick or strong as many of the guys you're guarding

His efficiency jumped because he went from a trash team to a great team with better players and an elite offensive system in place it's really that simple.

Also, Gasol's expertise was rim protection even into his older days he was one of the top guys in FG% allowed at the rim. I wouldn't say he was inconsistent he was definitely better than most of the offensive minded turnstiles that were at the PF position in those days. Obviously he wasn't the quickest or strongest and sometimes he got bytched but he could be tough and proved his worth with his defense on KG as a poster mentioned with his man defense on him and keeping him off the glass (another thing Gasol did that his brother also does, very effective at boxing out).

 

[Controversy]

Lowkey Pau probably could have won finals MVP in 2010

No he couldn't have. He wasn't considered an mvp candidate after g6. The media was saying Kobe should win FMVP win or lose after g6.

 

[Controversy]

Pau Outperformed Kobe in the 2010 finals . Should have been the MVP

Pau was inconsistent in the finals.

He shot 6-16 in g7 even tho he was 7'2 & wasn't getting doubled or drawing defensive attn the way Kobe was.

And Kobe scored 10 in the 4th qtr of g7

 

[ISO]

Why couldn’t he win one playoff game if he top 15 tho? It wasn’t like he played with bums or ran into unbeatable teams. That alone disqualified him to me

Why does that matter?

-He got swept by a 57 win Spurs team
-He got swept by a 62 win Suns team
-He got swept by a 60 win Mavs team

The Grizzlies were 45-50 win teams, nowhere near those teams in talent or pedigree. How many wins did Chris Bosh have prior to Miami? How many times had he made it to the playoffs prior to Miami? What if Gasol was on the 7SOL Suns?

 

[Cladyclad]

Why does that matter?

-He got swept by a 57 win Spurs team
-He got swept by a 62 win Suns team
-He got swept by a 60 win Mavs team

The Grizzlies were 45-50 win teams, nowhere near those teams in talent or pedigree. How many wins did Chris Bosh have prior to Miami? How many times had he made it to the playoffs prior to Miami? What if Gasol was on the 7SOL Suns?

If u top 15 u got to win one game

 

[hayesc0]

Some of u are so obvious lol

 

[Marc Spector]

0-11 swept 3 times in Memphis
0-3 in LA without Kobe
0-14 record total

Didn’t win his 1st playoff game without Kobe until he went to Chicago

13 years into
His career

*Kobe teams up with Pau who had no playoff success*

Kobe stans: "Kobe made Pau"

*Lebron teams up with Bosh, Kyrie, Love, Davis, who all little to no playoff success*

Kobe stans: "Bron is a scared faggit who stacks the deck"

 

[CantStop]

I remember when the servers on old sohh shut down when the Lakers got Pau.

But because heads want to add to the legend of Kobe and re-write history, they make Pau a (fill in the blank with something less than great)_______ talent.

See through and boring

Imagine using shutting down as an argument like the whole reason Coli even exists is because shut down for a first round playoff game. That shyt would get shut down for a Hawks vs Wizards game. FOH

 

[No1]

Pau was better than Bosh and Amar'e at several aspects of basketball you nikkas only care about scoring

Yeah, no - I'm not one of those nikkas. No one ever said Amar'e was a better defender than Pau or better with his back to the basket. But overall, at their peaks, both guys were better than Pau. This is revionist history to assert otherwise. When Bosh went to Miami it was considered 2 of the top 3 players and 3 of the top 10 to 15 players in the league on the same team. Bosh was a better defender than Pau, a better rebounder than Pau, and a better scorer. Pau was better than him with his back to the basket and a bit better as a playmaker.

There was no one out here saying Pau was better than Bosh before he got traded to the Lakers. Cut it out b. And Pau got bullied all throughout those title runs from 2008 to 2010 in a way that Amar'e never was.